My musings regarding GNU/Linux, GNU/BSD and GNU/Minix. I am in particular partial towards Debian GNU/Linux and Arch GNU/Linux. Generally these are my comments towards topics related to "Free as in Freedom" software and tips for installing and configuring Debian GNU/Linux and Arch GNU/Linux systems on laptops and other generics.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Custom roms on xperia mini pro locked boot loader

I, nor any devs or their work can be held responsible for any issues or for damaging your phone. Proceed at your own risk. You have been warned. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This post is directed at people who dont want to unlock their boot loaders
Refer to my previous post regarding rooting and installing CWM on xperia mini pro ICS. Read further if your device is ready as per my previous post.

So, Fed up with the way your device looked and performed. Let us give your mini pro a facelift with these custom roms.

1. MiniCMSandwich Lite AOSP, Get it here, takes the top spot for custom rom on mini pro. The main reason being the majority of the ROM contains AOSP(Android open source project) a.k.a Vanilla ICS. The shocker is the amount of free space in the internal memory after installing the rom. This is a real barebones, vanilla ICS at its best. He has tried to take the best from cyanogenmod, AOSP and sony software and mixed them to come out with a great and awesome mod. People who want to theme their phones keep out. This is a great rom for people who want to run games n their xperia mini pro and install a plethora of apps. Every aspect of the phone is working fine and optimal. Thanx kamarush for a great rom

2. The second spot is a re-spin of kamarush's rom. CyanogenTimeScape. To qoute from his OP "This ROM is a Hybrid of Android Open Kang Project, Cyanogen Mod, and Xperia S ICS. The ROM is basicaly made by kamarush. I just modified it. The major challenge for me was to make the Sony Sound Enhancements work on the ROM. I could figure out how to do it after flashing the ROM more than 50 times on my device for testing purposes.
Other than these, I have provided some cool Xperia S apps in the ROM, to help increase productivity, and level of coolness of this ROM." It is basically a kamarush rom. If you like what DragonClawsAreSharp has done to kamarush's rom, go ahead and install it. The difference is minimal except for facts explained in the OP.

3. The third spot goes to expeacer's ExMIUI. Anybody who has rooted his phone would know the fork of android caled MIUI. Here is a fork of android which cares only about the looks. Yes, the ram usage is nearly twice that of kamarush rom. But you are looking for the good looks and theming, look no further. You can change the look of your phone just by downloading themes of miui website or from the public network and just apply them. It is an excellent attempt at bringing theis beatiful rom to this cute phone. The animations are superb and the mini pro gets a new identity. The only issue here is ram usage.

We have reviewed the best roms for xperia mini pro with locked boot loader. And one more thing, all thes roms feature the aroma installer(think it as a step by step configuration selection during installation) which is awesome. All the roms look good on the mini pro and the keyboard works flawlessly. I cannot end the post without thanking the devs of these fantastic roms. I just hope that these devs continue to love the awesome device created by sony designers. I would like to thank all the devs associated with the vanilla android, AOKP, MIUI and other forks of android. We love you.

UPDATE: 01/08/2012

I would like to add one more Custom rom to this list. That would be real ICS. It is now at version 5.1. This particular rom is interesting because it's major portion is based on Sony's stock rom. Loaded with many mods to make it a music hub. It has the best from the latest xperia phones and other sound improvement mods. If u like the stock feel, but want to extract the max out of your device, then this is the rom for you. Mind you, it is a heavy rom at around 250MB. and the ram/rom usage is on the higher side compared to kamarush's AOSP rom. With jelly bean around the corner by the same devs, this is good rom to try out the stock feel of sony with all the awesome mods. Since we are discussing devices with locked boot loader, this rom has not mentioned its support for locked bootloaders loudly owing to some caveats. After installing the rom, you may lose CWM. The best way to get it back would be to install x-parts from the market. With this you can install CWM back. Once installed, after reboot during the display of sony logo, the LED will flash blue. Just click any button to enter CWM. Thanx again to all the devs who are keeping the xperia series phones alive and kicking.